MARCEL MBAMALU
When over 200 people were killed in Benue last year, President Bola Tinubu told affected communities to make peace among themselves and questioned why the perpetrators had not been arrested.
The same pattern is now evident across Nigeria: security forces are deployed after killings, yet killings and abductions continue unchecked.
In the midst of mass abductions, including schoolchildren, the recent attack in Woro village, Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, serves as a grim reminder of a government that has failed woefully to protect lives while remaining intensely active in consolidating political power. At least 75 people were killed, homes were razed, and women and children were abducted.
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Even in cases of abduction, there is often hope that bandits might be negotiated with for the victims’ release. After all, the president once said that the end justifies the means when some abducted schoolchildren were freed. But such reasoning reaches its limit when lives are lost. Negotiation cannot restore the dead, and no justification can erase the finality of that loss.
A village head Salihu Umar reportedly revealed that the attackers had sent a warning letter that they were coming to preach in the village. The village then sent the letter to the State Security Service (SSS) weeks before the assault which went unheeded. Only after the massacre did troops arrive the scene, highlighting a reactive, rather than preventive, approach. Even as bodies were being buried and survivors sought medical care, political calculations and manoeuvring for 2027 continued unabated. In this context, one must ask: while citizens are dying, what is the government truly prioritising?
Although the village head said about 75 people have been buried, the Red Cross suggests that well over 160 casualties. Other reports indicate that over 200 people, homes and shops were destroyed, women and children were abducted. Yet it almost seems as if people are beginning to normalise such killings, or worse, have grown used to them, resigned to the idea that they are unavoidable. The question that haunts everyone now is simple: which village is next? As Nigerian authorities continue to issue broad statements about combating insecurity nationwide, yet the last US strike in Sokoto feels almost like a joke, with no public detail on follow-up or results. The Kwara incident highlights a broader pattern of insecurity spreading beyond traditional hotspots.
In the Kwara attack, the assault was allegedly carried out by Boko Haram group under the banner of Hamamatsu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’adati walJihad (JAS), reportedly led locally by Mallam Sadiku.
The group itself is part of the broader Boko Haram network, once commanded by the late Abubakar Shekau and now under Bakura Doro. Other jihadist actors, including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), aligned with ISIS, and splinter groups such as Lukawara, continue to operate across central and northern Nigeria.
Ansaru, another extremist faction historically linked to alQaeda, has been active in the region as well. Its former leaders, Mahmud Muhammad Usman (Abu Bara’a) and Mahmud alNigeri (Mallam Mamuda), were the only two reportedly captured in 2025 during counter-terror operations, yet the broader network remains intact.
Despite public knowledge of these groups and their leaders, none of the principal cells responsible for recurring massacres have been fully dismantled, allowing attacks such as the one in Kwara to continue with alarming impunity. So what is really wrong? Is it weak leadership? Perhaps. But this same leadership has never shown weakness in its relentless drive to expand political influence and consolidate power.
Political alignments Vs citizens’s plight
In the past months, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has welcomed a string of lawmakers and governors from rival parties.
The most consequential of these shifts is the recent defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State. After months of speculation and internal disputes within the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Mr Yusuf resigned his membership of the NNPP late last month and formally joined the APC, accompanied by at least 21 state assembly members, eight federal lawmakers, and all 44 local government chairpersons in the state.
Just days back, Senators Haruna Manu and Shuaibu Lau from Taraba State formally defected on the Senate floor, strengthening the APC’s hold in the upper chamber. This followed earlier Senate shifts in July 2025, when three PDP senators from Osun and Akwa Ibom also crossed over, and many more.
The House of Representatives has witnessed a similar movement. On 30 October 2025, six lawmakers defected, including Nnolim Nnaji, Anayo Onwuegbu, Martins Oke, Mark Obetta, Dennis Agbo, and Daniel Asama. Other federal lawmakers, such as Victor Nwokolo, Julius Pondi, Thomas Ereyitomi, Peter Akpanke, and Paul Nnamchi, have also announced switches in separate waves tied to internal disputes within their former parties, to mention but few.
At the state level, defections have also reinforced the sense of widening consolidation. In Taraba, State Assembly Speaker Kizito Bonzena, alongside colleagues including Hamman-Adama Abdullahi, Jethro Yakubu, and Happy Shonruba, left the PDP for the APC, citing factional tensions. One ought to ask, Why can’t these defectors and those planning to defect join hands and fix the PDP crisis?
Similar movements were recorded in Ondo and Zamfara, where state lawmakers defected alongside large blocs of supporters. Beyond elected officials, organised grassroots shifts have added scale to the trend. Reports from Jigawa describe thousands of former PDP and NNPP members moving to the APC.
Governors and high-profile figures, including Sheriff Oborevwori and Ifeanyi Okowa, have also joined APC too.
Most of these defectors, including Mr Yusuf and Peter Mbah of Enugu, have consistently cited the same reason for joining the APC: alignment with the ruling party. This reflects an obvious strategy to remain in office, as revealed by the Kano governor, after defection He said, “In the realities of today’s Nigeria, delivery requires strategic alignment, cooperation, and access—not isolation. By aligning with the centre, we choose stability over stagnation, partnership over polarity, and progress over pride.”
Amid all governors’ efforts to defect, there has been no meaningful effort to protect voters’ lives. It appears the ruling elite already know they do not need the electorate to win; they only need a majority within the APC. This is evident in the fact that, in addition to the constitutional immunity enjoyed by sitting governors, anyone who joins the APC is effectively shielded from investigation by security agencies and assured of political continuity.
Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, former national chairman of the party, recently assured Mr Yusuf that “you will win your second term in 2027,” pledging unified APC support behind him, while prominent lawmakers like Barau Jibrin publicly reinforced the party’s commitment to protecting loyal members. Will citizens whose lives have been lost in attacks have any say in these calculations?
Politics Over Lives: Elections Over Security
Defections to the All Progressives Congress have reshaped Nigeria’s political landscape and signalled a drift toward a one-party reality.
A reason the APC’s Senate caucus has risen to roughly 78–79 seats out of 109, up from the high 60s in 2025, while its presence in the House of Representatives now exceeds 200 members, underscoring a race for federal support and strategic consolidation. Across states, party allegiance has become fluid, driven not by ideology but by access to patronage and political viability.
Beyond elected officials, the APC is courting celebrities and entrepreneurs to broaden its appeal. Obi Cubana was appointed South-East Zonal Coordinator of the City Boy Movement to mobilise youth and business leaders, while Nollywood actor Bolanle Ninalowo now heads the party’s diaspora advocacy in Atlanta. These moves highlight how political elites prioritise electoral strategy over citizens’ urgent needs.
The timing and intensity of these realignments are striking. While the nation faces deepening insecurity, economic hardship, and public frustration, political gymnastics continue at a feverish pace. Citizens confronting daily violence, mass killings, and abductions watch as headlines focus on defections and celebrity appointments, not protection or relief.
One cannot help but ask whether insecurity is being tolerated, or even indirectly leveraged, as a strategy to weaken communities and reduce Nigerian population, given the thousands killed and the scores of villages left vulnerable.
The contrast is stark: politics marches on while lives are lost. Defections, high-profile appointments, and elaborate mobilisation dominate public attention, yet solutions to insecurity remain absent. For Nigeria, the urgent question is clear: will the nation prioritise survival, or continue to witness the spectacle of politics over lives?
